OK, so no I am not the biggest "Star Wars" fan in the universe, BUT, this past Sunday my pastor spoke to our church (during our series on "At the Movies") about how we can see a biblical meaning in the latest "Star Wars" movie. One might think, "How is this possible?" Well, I thought it was pretty silly too until he opened my eyes and mind.
Like I said before, I do not know much about "Star Wars" except for the usual suspects: Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, Princess Leia, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and such. But when we watched the movie clips I saw that there was definitely a good side and a bad side, just like there is to all of us. Even though there is a good/bad side, there is bad within everyone. It says in Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned..."
We see our first choice of sides when FN-2187 (or "Finn") decides to not kill innocent villagers, joins the New Republic throughout the movie and choses the light. Next we see how Kylo Ren decides to join the dark as he (SPOILER!) kills his father, Han Solo, and joins the First Order. The pastor of our church brought up the fact that these two men were brought up in totally different upbringings but chose the opposite paths. Don't WE all have a choice?
We have choices every day to either choose the light or the dark. One of the main obstacles was when Kylo was trying to resist the light and turn to dark. Both had a pull on him.
God wants us to accept the light side and be his children. It says in John 1:5, "The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." Again in John it talks about light in chapter 11, verse 9, "Are there not 12 hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light."
We as people of the Earth have a choice to make; are we going to turn from all our distractions and things that sway us from the light, or are we going to continue to follow the darkness?
God wants to have a relationship with each one of us because He is our creator and He loves us. But the problem is that we are living in darkness and he lives in the light because He is holy and there is no way for us to live with Him. But God sent His son, who is the light, to die for us so that we could be with Him in heaven someday.
Just like Finn chose to be a follower of the light, we need to choose as well. The darkness seeks to find and destroy us with our words and actions. It says in the Bible in 1 Peter 5:8, "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." Just like Kylo Ren -- he was pulled and pulled to the dark side until it consumed him and he eventually killed the one person who had hope for him.
The relationship between Kylo and his father, Han, is just like the relationship between us and God. We constantly push Him away with the things that we do, say and think, we stab Him, mock Him and curse Him. Why is this so? He only loves us and I think that the light and love scares people because it is many times stronger than the darkness.
Today is today, yesterday is gone and dead. We only have right now to choose to follow the light of God who will pull us from the darkness if we only ask Him to. Will you choose to walk in the light, or continue to creep and prowl in the darkness?
